Daphne, Baldwin County only unbeaten teams after Day 1 of Gulf Coast Qualifier

FOLEY, Alabama – Daphne and Baldwin County are the only unbeaten teams remaining after one day of pool play in the Gulf Coast 7-on-7 Regional Qualifier in Foley.

The Trojans and Tigers each went 4-0 on Thursday. They will play at 9 a.m. Friday as pool play continues.

“We play Daphne first tomorrow and then Carver-Montgomery,” Baldwin County coach Nathan McDaniel said. “That’s going to be big-boy football. We’ll find out real quick where we stand.”

The tournament includes 16 teams from Alabama, Florida and Louisiana. The winner advances to the National Select 7-on-7 tournament in Hoover next week.

Star running back Dwayne Koen helped Baldwin County to a 4-0 record on Thursday. (Ben Thomas | bthomas@al.com)

The teams play seven pool play games – four Thursday night and three more Friday morning. When those are complete, they will be seeded for a single-elimination tournament beginning at approximately 1:30 p.m. The championship is tentatively scheduled for 4 p.m. at Ivan Jones Stadium.

“As a staff, we were very proud of how the kids competed for the first time,” Trojans’ head coach Glenn Vickery said. “We did a lot of good things. I thought we played with good speed and good intensity. We dropped a lot of balls early, but that is to be expected. We are going to get a good night’s rest and do it all over again tomorrow.”

Vickery said it benefitted his team that quarterback John Quinnelly played in this tournament last year after then-starter Zack Morgan was ruled out because of injury leading up to the event. Quinnelly is the projected starter this season.

“It has to help,” Vickery said. “He played 10 or 12 games last year. Anytime you have competition reps whether it be in 7-on-7 or preseason or whatever, it is good. It took him a few throws to get the jitters out, but after that he threw really well.”

Baldwin County went unbeaten with a freshman at quarterback. Eli Powell stepped in for the Tigers in place of projected starter Juwan Judge, who is attending the Manning Passing Academy. Baldwin County defeated Mary G. Montgomery, Gadsden City, Davidson and Priceville.

“It’s good to be 4-0 certainly,” McDaniel said. “I thought today was great for us. The level of competition was unbelievable. There are great teams playing down here across the board.

“I thought we competed well. I was very proud of Eli, a freshman, who came in and was just dealing all day. We are getting better.”

Daphne and Baldwin County lead Pool B. No one has a 3-1 record. Carver-Montgomery, Davidson and Gadsden City are all 2-2. Mary G. Montgomery is 1-3.

Three out-of-state teams sit at 3-1 in Pool A. They are Mandeville, Landry Walker and Niceville. Defending champion McGill-Toolen, Blount and Williamson are all 2-2.